


Remember This Moment

by cozypancakes



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Adam is not in this au, Fluff, M/M, Romance, Shiro and Keith dated before Kerberos, angst sprinkled here and there, celebrating Shiro's appointment to the Kerberos mission, taylor swift project
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-02-23
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:20:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22866988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cozypancakes/pseuds/cozypancakes
Summary: Shiro is appointed as the lead pilot of the Kerberos mission. Keith and Shiro's friends want to give Shiro a night to remember before he's swamped with work.
Relationships: Keith/Shiro (Voltron)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Remember This Moment

Drama and suspense. That’s why they were doing this. Or at least, that’s what Shiro figured. Keith had to agree with him. Why else would the whole of the Garrison have to be assembled to hear the final decisions for the Kerberos crew be named? It was stupid and unnecessary and the media was having a field day with it. 

Keith shifted in his chair again. They’d had to endure hours of speeches and protocols and fanfare. He’d thought this would be more entertaining than being in class all day, but leave it to the Garrison to make the longest, human run expedition into the edges of the solar system sound more dull than learning about the proper outline for a mission report. Though maybe it was just extra dull since he’d heard Shiro talk about the most minute details of this mission for the last five or six months. 

His eyes wandered over to Shiro. He was seated between the two other pilots that were being considered for the mission. Keith rolled his eyes. Even though everyone that was up on stage had slowly relaxed their posture as the hours wore on, Shiro was still stiff as a rod down there. Keith wished he was down there to reassuringly squeeze Shiro’s hand. 

“Now, it is time for the pilots to undergo the final examination.” Commander Holt gestured for the three pilots to stand. He had just been named the leading commander on the mission a half hour ago. Keith vaguely remembered him being Shiro’s prefered commander out of the three choices. Keith’s eyes drifted back to Shiro as he was being led towards one of the three simulators. He wondered how much work it took to get three fully functioning simulators placed on the stage of the auditorium. Honestly, it was like a reality TV show. 

“Hey,” someone behind him whispered. Keith forced himself to turn around and look behind him. When had Marco and James gotten there? “Think our boy has anything to worry about?” Marco joked. 

Keith couldn’t help but snort. “Shiro’s going to wipe the floor with them.” 

“Oh, so overly confident,” James said. “Willing to bet on that?” 

Keith smirked. “Fifty bucks says Shiro wins four out of the five simulations.” No hesitation. He knew Shiro was going to be picked for the Kerberos mission. 

Once Keith and James shook on it, he turned back to see that all the pilots and their selected colleagues were already in the simulators. Commander Holt was explaining all the different simulations the pilots would have to complete consecutively and the rubric on which they would be judged. Keith zoned out, staring up at the screen that currently showed Shiro and his team getting settled.

The atmosphere in the auditorium changed. Everyone seemed to simultaneously move to the edge of their seat as the simulation began. The view on the screens shifted to show what the pilots were seeing. 

Time sped up after that. Everyone was in relative silence until something particularly interesting happened on the scene; then the audience would let out exclamations and murmur amongst themselves about what happened. Keith occasionally heard Marco and James talking about something, but they knew better than to try to get Keith to pull his attention away from the screen. Keith’s hands began to ache from being clenched on his knees to keep them from flying towards imaginary controls along with Shiro. Whenever Shiro would pull off a particularly hard turn or dive, Keith’s body would flinch, feeling the adrenaline flow through him but not wanting for everyone else to know. Though he did nothing to hide the smirk on his face. 

Before he knew it, Shiro had completed the last simulation. For the first time, Keith looked over at the other pilots’ screens. Both of them were still a good minute or two behind Shiro. Marco squeezed both his shoulders as they watched Shiro and his team exit the simulator. He shook all the officers hands before calmly taking his seat. Leave it to Shiro to be humble and not show any smugness on his face. Keith knew that Shiro was probably bursting with happiness though. 

Once the other two pilots were seated, the judges took an appropriate amount of time to “discuss” the outcome of the simulations. When Commander Holt returned to the podium and announced the pilot that would take humanity the furthest into space, Keith, Marco and James all jumped out of their seats. His hands would sting later from how hard he was clapping. And he’d fight anyone who commented on the extra water in his eyes as Shiro stood up to be congratulated by everyone on the platform. Keith’s heart was overwhelmed as he looked down at that amazing human being that he just wanted to kiss senseless. Standing alongside Commander Holt and the other cadet, Shiro embodied the title of Garrison’s Golden Boy. 

Before Keith could sit back down, Marco gestured for him to follow them out of the auditorium. With one final look down at Shiro, Keith followed them. 

“Come on, Keith,” Marco said as they jogged out of the main complex. “We’ve got three or four hours to get Shiro’s surprise party ready.” 

* * *

It took three trips to the closest town, five bags full of miscellaneous party supplies, $500 worth of alcohol, dozens of pounds of junk food, and four paper cuts to get everything set up. 

“Oh, you know what would be awesome,” Amelia exclaimed as they were hanging up the last of the streamers. 

“Nope, nope, nope,” Marco interrupted. “I am not going back into town. The lady at the convenience store was ready to slap us when she saw how much alcohol we were buying.” 

“Fine,” Amelia relented. “This actually turned out pretty well.” 

“We won’t take offense at your surprised tone.”

“Well after your mini freak out about how you guys were going to get into Shiro’s apartment, I had my doubts,” Amelia retorted.

“How was I supposed to know Keith had a spare?” Keith felt his cheeks burn. Shiro’s closest friends had known about them for two months but it was still an entirely new concept for Keith. 

A knock on the door luckily moved the topic away from the various reasons Keith had access to Shiro’s apartment. As people trickled in, Keith felt his phone vibrate. He pulled it out to be greeted by multiple crying emojis. It actually hurt Keith to think that Shiro thought he didn’t want to celebrate with him. Even as he stood in a room full of senior officers wearing a ridiculous party hat, his arms aching from the keg he’d helped James bring up, Keith wanted to piss off everyone and tell Shiro exactly why Keith was avoiding making plans. Every minute Shiro thought Keith had better things to do hurt Keith.

He didn’t get a chance to respond to Shiro’s last text as Marco was ordering everyone to hide and the lights were turned off all over the apartment. Keith kneeled behind the couch with the others as they waited for Shiro to enter. 

No one was 100% sure how long it would take for Shiro to return to the apartment. Matt Holt had texted them when they’d been released from the debriefings. It took approximately 15 minutes to walk back from the main building to the on site apartments. And they couldn’t be sure that Shiro wouldn’t make a detour to Keith’s room before heading back, as James had teased him. 

Keith got comfortable in his position behind the couch. There were whispered conversations and the light from everyone's phones gave the room a blue glow. Keith resisted the urge to open up his own phone. He would be texting Shiro before he knew it and that wouldn’t help matters. He should’ve gone and waited for Shiro once he got out of the debriefing meetings. But their relationship wasn’t public, possibly even against multiple Garrison rules. So Keith didn’t want to give people more reason to whisper behind their backs or draw attention to Shiro in a negative light. So many people would be envious of Shiro’s promotion. Keith would never forgive himself if he was the cause of Shiro failing to meet his dreams. Keith had been there when Shiro was overlooked for the Martian mission two years ago. It was the only time he’d ever seen Shiro cry. 

The keypad beeping right outside the door was the only warning everyone in the apartment had. Phones were shoved away and people sprang to their feet as Shiro walked into the room. 

“Surprise!”

The lights flickered on and Marco (unanimously put in charge of documenting this night) began capturing Shiro’s shocked expression. Shiro was instantly swamped by well-wishers. Keith smiled as Shiro tried to form coherent sentences while still looking like his brain had short circuited. He turned around and turned on his prepared playlist. All of Shiro’s favorites, plus some of his guilty pleasures. Because what was a party if your friends didn’t make fun of your dorky music taste. 

A strong and familiar hand landed on his shoulder. “So, too busy studying for your physics exam?” Keith looked up at Shiro’s smiling face. 

“The surprise was worth it, no?” 

“I don’t know. Those twenty minutes when I thought I was second best to your academics were pretty rough,” Shiro teased. 

“I’ll make it up to you later,” Keith promised in a whisper. “Congratulations, I’m so proud of you.” He turned and clasped Shiro’s hand, bringing him into a tight “bro hug”, as James would say. Shiro wrapped his arm around Keith, nuzzling his nose in Keith’s hair. Marco (also unanimously in charge of making sure Shiro and Keith didn’t accidentally end up making out in front of everyone) joined in on the hug. James and Amelia quickly tagged along, turning the possibly too intimate hug into a group of friends being idiots. 

“Alright,” James said, pulling away. “Enough of the sappy emotion. Let’s celebrate Shiro’s last day of freedom for the next two years by getting absolutely wasted!” There was resounding agreement from everyone crammed into the small apartment. 

Luckily for Keith and Shiro, no one got too wasted. Everyone was vaguely coherent enough to not puke on the carpet or make out with anyone they should not be making out with. Shiro was drunk enough that by the time “Call Me Maybe” and “Single Ladies” came on the playlist, he was more than happy to join Amelia in a sing along and then dance along. As Marco put it, as he committed the whole act to film, it was the perfect amount of wasted. Keith stayed stubbornly sober the whole night. Partially because he didn’t want to miss anything and partially because it was best that some of his current and future TA’s didn’t see what he was like when he was drunk. Keith was happy to stay by Shiro’s side as he talked to anyone and everyone or duck away to a corner whenever Shiro was dragged onto the makeshift dance floor. 

It must have been nearing midnight when Shiro “subtly” dragged him into his bedroom and shut his door. Keith still managed to see Marco mouth “five minutes” over Shiro’s shoulder before the door fully closed. 

Shiro instantly wrapped him in a tight embrace and Keith couldn’t find him it in himself to say this was a bad idea. “This is an amazing party,” Shiro mumbled into his shoulder. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.” 

“It wasn’t entirely my idea,” Keith replied. He still couldn’t decide if he would’ve preferred to have a quiet night alone with Shiro. Because James wasn’t exaggerating when he said this would be Shiro’s last night of freedom. Starting tomorrow at 13:00 hours exactly, Shiro would begin the arduous process of preparing to be up in space for 10 months. Keith fought back the tears prickling at his eyes. Tonight was about celebrating. They still had a whole year to figure out what Shiro’s mission meant for  _ them _ .

“Still, you’re here and I know how much you hate crowds,” Shiro pulled back from him. He cupped both his cheeks and stared into Keith’s eyes. “And I’m not only talking about the party. You helped me train and study and kept me sane these last few months.” Keith opened his mind to say it hadn’t been anything but Shiro cut him off. “I can’t...I don’t have the words to tell you what you mean to me Keith. Or to tell you how much I’m going to miss you.” Maybe Shiro was a bit more wasted than Keith had assumed because he did not like the way Shiro’s voice tightened at the end of that. 

“Hey, none of that,” Keith chastised. “Tonight is all about you and how happy we all are. You’re not gone yet.” 

Shiro nodded his head lightly. He leaned down and kissed Keith as if it was the most natural thing he could possibly do. Keith kissed him back. There was an edge of desperation in the kiss that had never been there before. Keith wrapped his hands around Shiro’s waist, lightly flicking his tongue out to touch Shiro’s lower lip. It wasn’t the best idea Keith had ever had. Shiro groaned and tilted Keith’s head so he could push his tongue into Keith’s warm mouth. 

Keith was both grateful and upset to hear the door opening. They sprang apart and looked over at the door. Marco slid through the smallest opening in the door and closed it. He had his hand over his eyes but quickly peeked through his fingers. “Oh thank god,” Marco replied, putting his hand down and sagging with relief. “I was really hoping not to walk into something here. Come on, back to the party. We’re taking a group picture.”

Keith barely resisted rolling his eyes. They followed Marco back out into the living room. James and Amelia were already sitting on either end of the couch. Marco had handed the camera over to a random party goer. 

Years and years of being a lone wolf had Keith faltering in his steps. Sure, Marco had said group picture, but he hadn’t specifically included Keith in that group. It would be too presumptuous to go over there. But before Keith could put more distance between himself and the couch, Shiro’s hand was around his wrist and pulling him over to the middle of the couch. Keith looked at the other people and was greeted by warm smiles. No one seemed surprised or annoyed that Keith was being included. Keith relaxed into the couch when he sat down. Shiro’s arm was around him and Marco, Amelia had her hand on Keith’s elbow, leaning into him. Keith almost wished he’d gotten drunk today. It would explain away the warm tightness in his chest.

“Alright, everyone say Kerberos.”

“Kerberos!”

**Author's Note:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated!


End file.
